The NFL is back. And with it, the weekly torment that is the lot of all New York Jets fans.

Gang Green has played two games now. They are 1-1. And they hung in with the Patriots until the last minute of tonight's game. Doesn't sound too bad.

Except it is. That record is deceptive. The Jets had lost that Tampa Bay game. The clock was running out, and the Bucs had the W safely in hand when a Tampa Bay linebacker gave the Jets an inexplicable gift, committing an egregious and entirely unnecessary out of bounds hit that moved Nick Folk into range for the winning field goal. Tampa had actually tried to give away the game half a dozen times before that, committing one blunder after another in the first quarter, but the Jets never cashed in... until the last second, and that was enough. "We'll take it," Rex said. Okay, I'll take it too. But I won't crow about it.

And tonight? Oh, god. What a wretched game. The Patriots looked as bad as I have ever seen them. Tom Brady has no wideouts but Edelman. His receivers were dropping balls all over the field. We should have been able to beat him tonight. We didn't. For every ball the Pats dropped, the Jets dropped two, and added a fumble and an interception.

The Jets have a new GM, a new offensive coordinator, and a new quarterback... but they're still the same team we saw last year. Staunch defense, one of the best in the league. Pathetic offense. Our RBs looked good... but the passing game isn't any better than it was when Mark Sanchez was under center and Tony Sparano was calling the plays. Geno Smith was 15 for 35 with 3 INTs. Those are grim numbers. Last year, Mark Sanchez led the NFL in turnovers. If Geno keeps throwing to the other team at the present rate, he may earn that same dubious honor. He was sacked three times as well. In at least two of those cases, it was because he held the ball way too long. The only bright spot was that Geno did not lose the ball when sacked, which is more than you can say about Mark.

I wish I could be more optimistic. But I fear this is going to be a long, painful season.

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Comments

Even Edelman is not that much of a receiver. You could almost touch Brady's frustration.

Powell and Ivory seem to be ok. Maybe the Jets should limit themselves to, like, 25 throws a game, and run the ball like there's no tomorrow. I could see them winning a couple of games 10-7 like this. When you have no QB and barely one WR in this pass oriented league, life is gonna be dark and full of terrors.